Police Cite For No English

[Dr. Shane]

Dallas police ticketed 39 drivers in 3 years for not speaking English

Dallas police wrongly ticketed at least 39 drivers for not speaking English over the last three years, Police Chief David Kunkle announced Friday while promising to investigate all officers involved in the cases for dereliction of duty.

Pending cases will be dismissed, and those who paid the $204 fine for the charge, which does not exist in the city, will be reimbursed, Kunkle said.

"I was surprised and stunned that that would happen, particularly in the city of Dallas," Kunkle said. "In my world, you would never tell someone not to speak Spanish."

The citations were issued in several different patrol divisions by at least six different officers. One of those officers was responsible for five of the citations, Kunkle said.

The case that led to the discovery of all the others occurred Oct. 2, when Ernestina Mondragon was stopped for making an illegal U-turn in the White Rock area. Rookie Officer Gary Bromley cited Mondragon for three violations: disregarding a traffic control device, failure to present a driver's license and "non-English speaking driver."

In that case and perhaps the others, officials said, the officer was confused by a pull-down menu on his in-car computer that listed the charge as an option. But the law the computer referred to is a federal statute regarding commercial drivers that Kunkle said his department does not enforce.

[text from link]

[Dr. Shane]

This was really stupid on the part of these police since the driver's test in Texas is given in English and Spanish. Since they give license to people that don't speak English, those drivers are obviously going to be out on the road driving.

[phkrause]

I have to agree, that does sound really stupid. Did they think this wouldn't come back and bite them in the butt?

pk

[Guest]

That does sound kinda SHTupid. If their gonna do that, they ought not give the test in spanish.

[phkrause]

pk

[Dr. Shane]

Well, it seems the law is that one has to speak English to drive commercial trucks. So on the police computer there is a citation for driving without speaking English. That is fine. I understand. The issue is that the police officers are obviously not trained to know the law since they are citing automobile drivers for not speaking English when the law only applies to commercial drivers.

[Ted Oplinger]

Well, it seems the law is that one has to speak English to drive commercial trucks. So on the police computer there is a citation for driving without speaking English. That is fine. I understand. The issue is that the police officers are obviously not trained to know the law since they are citing automobile drivers for not speaking English when the law only applies to commercial drivers.

So true. Last I heard, Austin had not passed a law requiring English only in the State of Texas, for automobile driving or any government documentation. Sorry to see the DPD is so uninformed these days. Thirty years ago, they were arguably one of the better PD's in the state.